The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-05-04
Henry Ward Beecher.

Joseph COOk, Ill his bOSCOu LeCLuTe,
February7, said: "Mr. Beecher is a
man of genius. We have all loved
him. Most of us love him yet. Would
to God there were no cloud in his sky!
He has been the champion of reform,
and has, indeed, been far from mis-
leader Of the nation, until of late. One
almost thinks he would have lived
longer if he had died earlier"
Now that the great preacher has
passed away from earth, I hear many
similar expressions Of admiration and
regret. And it may be both proper
and profitable TO inquire whence the
cloud arose that obscured the bright
ness of that conspicuous life. I will
not write now about the social scan
dals. There is clue to the under
standing of them in the temperament
and the habits of the man. But I pre-
fer to consider Mr.. Beecher as a theolo-
gian, and to ask why, with his ac-
knowledged ability and early training,
he uttered so many crudities and alb
surdities in regard to the Bible and its
teachings? This, it seems to ME, is the
explanation
God raises men up for different de-
partments of work,in his vineyard.
He endows each for his special duty.
TO Henry Ward Beecher he gave a
brilliant Imagination and great dra-
matte power. He was O born preach
er. His mission was to teach the doc
trines of grace as his father taught
them, and impress them upon the con-
sciences and hearts of men. He was
not logician. He was not student.
He had no ability or patience to inyes-
tigate the history of doctrines, to COM
pare Scripture with Scripture, and the
views and arguments of the great
thinkers of the Christian centuries.
he was interested in men, and not in
books-in the present, and not in the
past. He lived out of doors. He read
the face of nature and the faces of his
fellow-men. He could describe and il
lust-ate, but he could not reason.
Now, if he had been contented to do
his own work, and not imagine that
because he could do it we'll he could
do anything and everything equally
well, he would have lived and toiled
and died as the greatest gospel preach
er of the age; and all Christendom
would have mourned his death.
But when Mr.. Beecher had reached
the summit of fame as a preacher, he
was tempted to think that he might
be theologian too; so he turned his
hand to revising doctrines and tinker
ing creeds. And he made miserable
mess of it. Yet over all his illogical
crudities and quiddities he threw such
q glamor of genius that many accepted
them and flattered him, and thus he
was encouraged to 60 on and proclaim
his nebulous notions as the external
verities on which men are to rest the
hopes Of their souls. The climax of
Mr.. Beecher's laundering in regard to
his mission, was in attempting oWrite
a Life OF Christ. I think that no man
has done, or can do, this successfully.
Even Neander is unsatisfactory to me,
and much more so are Farrar, Hanna,
and all the rest of them. they are at
best but running commentaries upon
the gospel story. But for such COM
mentary the highest scholarship and
the profoundest study are needed.
Beecher had not the scholarship, and
all his habits untitled him for the
study. He was going TO write his Life
of Christ cuyre7ate cCianao, as he wrote
"Star Papers" or popular lecturers,
drawing largely upon his imagination,
making q Christ as he seemed to
Beecher, and not the Christ as reveal
ed in the gospels. In the beginning
of this rash enterprise he was arrested
by the Tilton scandal. He resumed
it with great enthusiasm a few weeks
ago, and was arrested by death. 1t
was not the will of Providence that
the brilliant but erratic preacher
should complete his fancy picture of
our blessed Lord
Now, the lesson from all this is, that
young preachers should be modest,
however gifted with. pulpit power
They should not think that because
they can draw and interest crowds of
hearers, they are wiser than all the
great and good men who have gone be-
fore them-that they are prophets, by
whom the Lord will reveal new truth.
1t is very important for us all to re-
member that we haye gifts differ
ing" Each should cultivate his own
special gift, and do his own allotted
work. There are no universal geni-
uses. Because Mr.. Beecher was an eX-
pert, as he was, in the cultivation of
roses, was no evidence that he could
construct an ocean steamer without
studying naval architecture.
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